How much of my run am I leaving on the table??

hog2east

I have been on the healthy lifestyle kick for about 3 month. In that time I am eating a lot better and staying within calories during most week days and quit tracking on the weekends. It was worked for me as I have lost about 30 lbs (275 to 245 lbs). I have also lost a total of 10 inches (1 inch off my neck, couple of my waist, chest, thighs, and hips). I have gone from 31.9 % body fat to 27.8 % in this time. I am overall very happy with my progress. I am a 30 year old male.

During this time I have been working out about 3 days a week. Alternating between chest/tri and back/bi. I do medium (about 60 % max) weight for high rep with supersets of two exercises for a total of 30 reps per 3 sets. I am at exhaustion failure by the end of each set, but could do much higher weight if I was doing lower reps. The strength workout takes about 30-40 minutes depending on how much I push it and how long the breaks are in between. I was doing legs on the middle day, but stopped due to some knee pain (I will start back in a few weeks as I think I just strained knee/thigh and it is almost back to normal). I also do a cardio after strength (trainer recommends cardio after strength for better fat burn). Started off doing about 30-40 minutes walking. Now I working on C25K. I am just finished week 4 and doing okay (dreading the 20 min run at the end of week 5).

My question is about my runs. How much easier would my runs be if I did them on non strength days? How much further/faster do you think I could go? I am not sure I have the dedication or time to split the days up, but was just wondering if some of you had opinions. How much of my ability to run am I leaving on the treadmill by doing strength first?

PS. I do not plan on running distance for long (too boring for me). Once I can get to about 30 minutes and 3 miles at a constant jog I am going to go back to a more HIIT style routine with a longer runs (30 min) mixed once every few weeks, but I set the ability to run a 5k as a short term goal.

Thanks for the responses in advance.

beerbomber

Well of course if you do strength training then go run your body will go into exhaustion much faster but all in all I don't think your going to gain a mile because usually your muscles can make the run its your cardiovascular system that can't handle it so in short, you would add distance but not a huge amount. If you want to do 3 miles then simply just get you a 3 mile track and jog as much as you can then walk and so on and so on if you can't make the whole 3 miles due to fatigue start off at 2 miles or 1 miles and build yourself up

Cmccracken1

i do c25k also... i am alternating it with other workouts doing it about every other day.. there is a thread on here for c25k you might like... i will say that i was doing a workout the same day as c25k and i was having trouble getting through the longer runs so i switched it up a little bit... i am going to start wii fit tonight and i also to Tae Bo variety is the spice of life... here's the link to the thread if you are interested...
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/175390-new-couch-to-5k-c25k-thread-anyone-out-there-in-week-1
good luck.

LoveLaughLive1

First off, Congrats!!! You sound like you're doing amazing! I love hearing stories about people like us taking our lives back About the cardio... you could do cardio on non strength days and probably go longer but unless you want to be training for a race, theres actually no point. The point of cardio is to keep you heart race elevated to burn fat. While you strength train your heart rate is elevated acheiving essentially the same end. That being said, you can't only do strength training but this is what I do. On a good week, I do strength training 2-3 times a week and follow that session with about 20-25 minutes of cardio. On days that I don't strength train, I try to do 45 minutes 2-3 times a week. Instead of going full on everyday with your cardio, on days that you strength train do light cardio and save your "push it to the max days" on days when you don't do strength. What's important is that you're tired at the end

hog2east

Thanks for the insight. I wish I could find the time for more than three days so I could alternate, but right now I just have too many other commitments.

Thanks for the advise and good luck everyone.

rybo

If you are just doing your runs after an upper body day of lifting, it shouldn't take too much away form your run, at least not to the point it matters. For general training runs to get in shape & burn calories, you should be fine.

Just a random question about your lifting, do you plan to increase the weight and reduce your reps at all?

TrainingWithTonya

You are getting more fat burning by doing the runs after your weights, so I wouldn't switch it up. You have to ask yourself if running for speed is your goal or if fat burning is your goal. Yes, if you just run and don't weight train beforehand, then you will be able to run a little faster because you can up the intensity and use glycogen for the fuel. But doing so will decrease your % fat burned as fuel during the run. Go with what is most important for you.

hog2east

I don't have any short term goals to switch up the weight/rep/set right now. I change excersises every few weeks, but the trainer thinks that the high rep is best for fat burning while still reshaping the body. I have seen good results thus far with this routine for strength. After a few more months I may re-adjust.

ebgbjo

...opps, my bad. I thought this said "how much RUM am I leaving on the table??" :laugh: